Intentional Harms Are Worse, Even When They're Not

Abstract

This dissertation identifies a tendency for observers to view intentional harms as larger in magnitude than they in fact are. Chapter 1 (Ames & Fiske, 2013a) provides the first demonstrations of this bias, and provides preliminary evidence concerning mechanism. Chapter 2 (Ames & Fiske, under invited revision) extends this work into the realm of motivated social cognition. Specifically, this chapter highlights the apparent failure of well-characterized mental inference (mentalizing) systems to prevent the magnification of intentional emotional harms. Chapter 3 (Ames & Fiske, in preparation) describes a series of experiments designed to provide insight into the psychological mechanisms that underlie the magnification of intentional harms. A final section summarizes the work to date and suggests potential legal applications and theoretical considerations.